1. Field of the Invention
In recent years the utilization of solar heat has become more pronounced because of diminishing supplies of other forms of energy. Thus the harnessing of the sun's rays and particularly the efficient harnessing is becoming extremely important.
The development of means to collect heat from the sun has taken many forms but in the main are unit panels, cells, or blocks which can be used either singly or in multiples. These unit panels have a sun reflecting surface for the concentration of the rays onto a heat collecting and transferring element. Most of the collector panels of the past have employed reflective surfaces of parabolic curves where the sun's rays are all concentrated on a single point, or at the most a very limited area with attendant high heat. Heat losses tend to be greater when high heats are involved.
The present invention is designed with a reflector surface capable of spreading the sun's rays over a substantial area and at lower temperatures without excessive heat losses to thereby better collect the gathered heat for transmission to the space to be heated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A search of the prior art has been made and the following U.S. Pat. Nos. were believed to be pertinent relative to applicants' invention of directing and spreading the sun's heat rays over an extended area of the full depth of a heating duct.
Von Brudersdorff--2,859,745 PA1 Johnson, Jr.--3,285,333 PA1 Wartes--3,884,217 PA1 Falbel--3,923,039 PA1 Spielberg--3,968,786 PA1 Smith--3,974,824 PA1 Cheng et al--3,982,527 PA1 Rabl--3,991,740 PA1 Lightfoot--4,003,366 PA1 Fattor--4,015,585 PA1 Cohen et al--4,022,188 PA1 Parker--4,026,273
All of the above listed U.S. patents are concerned with reflectors designed to concentrate solar radiation on a particular point of a heat collector. Most of them show parabolic curves.
The patent to Fattor U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,585 employs a reflecting surface which focuses solar radiation into a narrow, linear area rather than a single point as done with a true parabolic reflector.
The Falbel patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,039 employs a reflector which looks like a parabolic curve but is composed of curves of different radii and the focusing or concentration of the sun's rays is not delivered to a single point but rather has some spreading.
The Cohen et al patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,188 shows a reflector with a flat portion and a curved portion associated with a duct to be heated.
The Lightfoot patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,366 discloses a reflector in the form of a hyperbolic curve and has a triangularly shaped non-insulated duct to be heated, disposed intermediate the ends of the reflector. Lightfoot distinguishes from applicants' invention which carries a duct to be heated at one end of the reflector surface so that the duct can be and is insulated over the three sides thereof not receiving the sun's reflected rays.
The disclosures discussed herein are all variations on true parabolic curves and hence show some forms of spreading of reflected heat rays. However, no one of them specifically spreads those reflected heat rays uniformly over a substantial portion of the full depth of a duct to carry the heat to its ultimate use.